THE campaign to bring England's national football stadium to Coventry is warming up as MPs lobby the government to abandon Wembley.

More than 50 MPs have signed an early day motion calling on the government to build Wembley's replacement in the West Midlands.

They heard presentations in London from rival bids to bring football's premier stadium to Coventry and to Birmingham.

Coventry's strategic director of city development, John McGuigan, said Coventry's brownfield site on the old Foleshill gasworks had planning permission for a 40,000-seat stadium but could easily be expanded to 80,000.

His counterpart from Birmingham said they hoped to build on greenfield land and get the National Exhibition Centre to run the venture. Coventry also wants the NEC to be involved.

MPs met sports minister Dick Caborn to discuss possibilities.

Coventry's three Labour MPs support a Coventry bid, but Bob Ainsworth, whose Coventry North-east constituency includes the Sky Blues' Arena 2001 superstadium site, couldn't sign the motion because he is a junior minister.

However, he helped ensure it didn't rule out Coventry by arguing about the wording in the West Midlands group of Labour MPs.

He said the Football Association was "very antagonistic" about moving out of London and it would be difficult to over-ride its feelings.

He said: "But if we want to have a serious contender I think Coventry is a far, far better proposition than the Birmingham proposal."

Coventry North-west MP Geoffrey Robinson, multi-millionaire president of Coventry City Football Club, said he intended to sign, adding: "We certainly don't want it coming to Birmingham."

Coventry South MP Jim Cunningham has signed the motion, as have Nuneaton's Bill Olner, North Warwickshire's Mike O'Brien and Warwick and Leamington's James Plaskitt.